Friday, February 15, 2013

(UPDATED) Meteor in Russia astounds. Incredible video!

You might be interested in knowing of all FOUR astronomical events that occurred yesterday. Turns out, the Russia meteor was not the only one. I wrote about them here, and posted video too.

------------------------------------------------Hundreds injured by meteor explosion in Russia
"MOSCOW -- A meteor streaked over the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday morning, producing a blast that injured hundreds, caused minor damage to buildings and temporarily disrupted Internet communication, officials said. Yelena Smirnykh, deputy information chief of the Emergency Situations Ministry said 474 people sought medical assistance after the explosion. "Five of them were hospitalized, most of the injuries being cuts by shattered window glass," she said. Roskosmos, the Russian space agency, said it had not launched any objects on Thursday or Friday, Smirnykh said. "At this point we are confident that we are dealing with a meteor rain resulting from the explosion of a large meteor causing flashes and sound shock waves in the Chelyabinsk region and observed in three other regions of Russia too."

Nature reports some interesting facts:
"A meteor that exploded over Russia this morning was the largest recorded object to strike the Earth in more than a century, scientists say. Infrasound data collected by a network designed to watch for nuclear weapons testing suggests that today's blast released hundreds of kilotonnes of energy. That would make it far more powerful than the nuclear weapon tested by North Korea just days ago and the largest rock crashing on the planet since a meteor broke up over Siberia's Tunguska river in 1908. "It was a very, very powerful event," says Margaret Campbell-Brown, an astronomer at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada..."

UPDATE: the injuries reported in the area affected have risen to 1,200. There are thousands of windows blown out, which is a serious thing in Russian severe winter frigidity. Some of the impact sites have been discovered. One of them formed a crater almost 20 feet in diameter.Chelyabinsk administration’s website said nearly 3,000 buildings were damaged to varying extents by the meteor shower in the city, including 34 medical facilities and 361 schools and kindergartens. The total amount of window glass shattered amounts to 100,000 square meters, the site said, citing city administration head Sergey Davydov. Russia Today has much more

The following video is a composite of amateur and police video of the meteor posted on the newspaper Russia Today. It is incredible. The lowness of the meteor and the brightness, it is really, truly amazing, and one of he most astounding videos of a meteor I've seen. No wonder it produced panic among the people of the Urals!

"And I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; (Acts 2:19)

Peter preached that at Pentecost about the Day of the Lord. That will be the time when God personally intervenes on earth to deal with sin and sinners through His wrath. That "Day" has not begun, but with signs like this meteor, it certainly seems near.

In archaeology news, The Scotsman reports that a retired silversmith has ­uncovered the largest collection of ancient rock art ever found in the Highlands on a remote hill overlooking the Cromarty Firth. The carved rocks – some ­almost 10ft across – have been discovered scattered across a hillside near Evanton, in ­Ross-shire. Douglas Scott, the amateur archaeologist who has recorded the remarkable find, believes the “cup-marked” rocks – dating from up to 5,000 years ago to the Neolithic or Bronze Age – form part of a “ritual centre of some significance” where ancient people worshipped the sun and performed rites connected to the ­underworld.

Still covering archaeological news, in Peru an ancient temple was discovered.
"Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered what they believe is a temple, estimated to be up to 5,000 years old, at the site of El Paraiso, north of Lima. Inside the ruins of the ancient room, which measures about 23 feet by 26 feet, there's evidence of a ceremonial hearth, where offerings may have been burned, archaeologists say. The temple also had a narrow entrance and stone walls covered with yellow clay, on which traces of red paint were found, according to a statement from Peru's Ministry of Culture."

Isn't it interesting that for 5,000 years, almost the length of time that the bible says man has been upon the earth, we find in the secular and archaeological record that humans have worshiped? They worship false gods, but the inclination to worship has always been within us.

I often used to wonder about that as I mused about God and faith, before I was saved by the grace of Jesus. I'd wonder that there had to be a God, because there is evidence that the urge to worship is inside every man, in every culture, across epochs. It stood to reason that if worship was a cultural thing, some cultures would be absent evidence that worship took place. Yet all cultures worship and always have. I concluded that if men worshiped in all cultures across all times, the source had to be external to man, not internal to men or inherent in a changeable culture. Worship was the one constant. I decided there had to be a God, but it took many years to sort out which God. Fortunately God took care of showing me the right way because I would never have found Him in my depravity. The right way is Jesus, Who is the only way: Jesus.

"Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

That meteor sure was incredible. Imagine when the people who dwell on the earth see Jesus at the rapture! (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Imagine when sinners in the Tribulation see Him return to earth! (Matthew 24:27). It will be amazing!!!!!

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This blog is about encouragement, discernment, and prophecy. Each essay focuses on one of these with the prayer that through them, God is exalted. No matter how dark the days or how weary the heart, He is the Light and our hope. (1 John 1:5). Please visit my other blog, The Quiet Life